Paper, Stamps and Ink Oh My!

You Dig Me - SSSC 150 take 2

2012-01-17T15:05:00.005-05:00

After yesterday I decided to do another take on the Sweet Sunday Sketch that I posted about. I had forgotten one element, so I decided for my other daughter's Valentine card I would go back and do a Take 2 on it, making sure to use all of th elements in the sketch.

I stuck with my original colour scheme for this years Valentine's of Red, white and Teal. I also decided to forgo my usual rectangular card and do a square one. I had ordered a whole load of square envelopes for my christmas card, ordered the wrong size. So I need to make square cards to use them up.

I decided to use my new There She Goes My Little Friend Gnome stamps. I know that my 5 year old is not going to get the pun at all, but I still think its cute. She'll likely be disappointed I didn't go with a mermaid like she asked, or even that it doesn't have a girl gnome on it, but she'll have to deal with it ;P

Valentine Mad Science - SSSC 150

2012-01-16T15:49:00.005-05:00

I have neglected my blog once again for a long long time. I didn't post anything about the gazillion christmas cards I made, or any of the ones I received. So I start anew, with a new year.

We are going away for three weeks starting on Sunday. We don't arrive home until two days before Valentine's day, which gives me no time at all to sit down and make cards for my husband and my girls. So I have had to get myself in gear and get down to work before we leave. I just ordered a whole load of new stamps from Taylored Expressions and from There She Goes, and just got them in the mail on Friday, so perfect timing.

To start my off I decided to go back to the trusty old Sweet Sunday Sketch for inspiration.

A while ago I had seen a card made with Red and a teal blue and I loved the colour combo, so I decided that was going to be my theme this year for my Valentine's cards. With two girls I have enough pink in my life, so I didn't want to do a bunch of pink Valentine's.

The first card I made was for my youngest daughter who is almost 4 years old. She's into all kinds of crazy things right now, and loves telling me stories about Monsters here and there and everywhere so of course I had to use Taylored Expressions Love Monsters. I kept the monsters in line with my colour theme.

I finished up the card, thought it was fantastic, only to realize that I had put it together and totally forgot one element of the sketch, the little banner. But I didn't have time to fix it, especially since I hadn't realized my mistake until it was too late to take it apart and add the element. So here it is sans one element. I think it turned out really cute, banner or not

The second card I managed to get done was the one for my husband. I've said it before and I'll say it again I have such a hard time making cards for men. I am so girl oriented that I'm always stumped for ideas.

Last summer my oldest daughter had a science themed birthday party and I had totally forgotten about the There She Goes Chemistry stamps I had used for her invites. But luckily found them for this little project and I think it worked out perfectly

So I have two down and one to go. My oldest daughter said she wanted a mermaid card, but I really would like to use my new There She Goes My Little Friend gnome stamps. I'll have to see if I'm in a gnome or mermaid mood tomorrow.

Bird Just Under the Wire - SSSC 138

2011-10-14T14:50:00.002-04:00

The Sweet Sunday Sketch has become my go to blog for sketch inspiration for the cards I've been making. Karen has some awesome, but pretty simple sketches and its fun to see all the different cards and designs people come up with using the same template.

So this week I turned once again to the SSS.

When I first saw the sketch I thought "no way am I going to do this one this week. I have no time and its way too complicated". Well I was right about the no time. I just finished my card about 10 minutes ago, and in order to enter the contest I have to have my entry in my 10 pm MST. So I'm just under the wire this week.

The card I made is a birthday card for my Mother In Law. Now she's not my favourite person in the world, so sometimes its a bit hard to actually want to sit down and make something. But this past week she did myself and my husband a gigantic favour by coming and looking after our kids while we went away for the weekend for our 8th Anniversary. So this year it wasn't so hard.

The most difficult thing was coming up with a colour scheme. My MIL is not the most girly person in the world, and she doesn't really have a big bold personality (just one that clashes with mine on occasions ;)). So I decided to go with a subtle colour scheme of green and blue.

Well I thought my papers looked great together, but holy crow did that colour scheme end up screwing up my choices for stamps. Most of my stamps are either very flowery, or very girly. So none of them really went. I finally turned to the cute little Taylored Expressions Stamp, Some Birdy Loves You, that I received as a free gift when I ordered a lot a few months ago. It ended up being the perfect stamp for the card. I used a Papertrey sentiment, and I think the card turned out great.

Actually I think this is one of the best cards I've made in a really long time (save for the screw up in the sewing on the one corner: clearly need to buff up on my sewing on paper and around corners techniques)

Hangin Out on Your Birthday

2011-10-04T16:21:00.007-04:00

My Dad's birthday was this past weekend. I have such a tough time making masculine cards, and I certainly have very few stamps that lend themselves to a masculined themed card. The one thing my Dad does love though is going to Hawaii (are you sick of hearing about hawaii yet? ;)) and he loves chilling out in his hammock, whether its at home or on the beach in Hawaii.

For inspiration this week I used the lates Sweet Sunday Sketch

And this is what I came up with. Not the best card I've made, not the worst. My Dad thought it was great though so that's all that matters.

New Digs

2011-09-13T12:54:00.006-04:00

I have a problem. My problem is collecting stamps. There are so many great stamp companies out there, and I love all the cute little stamps they make. I buy way too many stamps. I am in need of getting rid of some of my stamps to make home for my new stamps. One of my newest sets, that I was super excited to get, and to use is from Taylored Expressions, Cozy Cottages

I have seem to have a tonne of friends moving this month, so this was the perfect stamp set. The first card I made with this set I decided to use the Sweet Sunday Sketch for my inspiration

I'm usually not a big user of flashy, lots of print paper. But because when I saw the sketch, and I knew that I would use pretty simple plain paper as the foreground paper, I went with a little flash in the back. I had decided that I wanted to make a little scene using one of the houses from the stamp set, with a nice little lawn. I had no idea how I was going to do that since I own no dies, and don't have a "grass" stamp, but then on a whim I decided to check out my cricut cartridges (they get lonely I don't use them often), and I found grass. Awesome.

So here's what I came up with.

Now that its done, there are a few things i would change about it, but all in all I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out (although I'm not happy with my picture, my camera is crapping out on me, and not focusing, the flash is working only sometimes blah blah blah - need a new camera)

Happy Hula Birthday

2011-09-06T12:28:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted anything to my blog for a long time. Not sure if I'm really going to start posting regularly again or not. I post most of my cards on splitcoaststampers now, and really I don't have much interesting to say about the cards that I post anyway.

Anyway, my niece, who lives in Hawaii is having a birthday in a couple of weeks, which means I Had to get a card done pronto as it takes forever to get anything shipped over there.

I decided to use the Sweet Sunday Sketch as my inspiration

I had recently bought some small stamps from Lizzie Ann Designs that had a "hawaiian" theme, so I decided to use the Hula Girl to make a little likeness of my niece. I needed some kind of background for the little Hula Dancer so I decided to set her on the beach in front of the waves. The only thing that you can't really see in the photo is the chalking that I did for the sky.

Instead of doing a traditional banner that said Happy Birthday on it, I decided to go with a row of Hibiscus flowers, since anyone who has been to Hawaii knows these things are everywhere.

I'm still practicing a lot with my copics, and I'm not all that great at it yet, but I'll get there in time. Hopefully my niece will like the card.

The Evolution of a Card

2011-04-28T20:33:00.005-04:00

I haven't made any cards for almost a month so I thought I should get off my lazy butt and get to work.

I needed a little inspiration this time around, so I decided that I was going to try out my first Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. I ended up going through a bit of a card evolution with this sketch. I had to try three different times to get it right :). Here is this week's sketch

I have hope that someday, in the cold frozen tundra that is Canada, that there will be spring, and in turn some flowers. We haven't had much of a spring yet, and its almost May. We've had snow and rain, and sleet and driving winds, and not much sun. So I decided that I was going to go with flowers for my theme just to bring a little bit of light to a rather dreary month.

So my first attempt at the sketch I decided I would go bright and cheery to drown out the dreary, and use yellow. I wanted to use my copics and I find yellow one of the easiest colours to use and to blend. I also wanted the smaller piece of patterned paper to be a bit monochromatic and not too crazy. So here's what I came up with:

Its alright but I knew I could do better. I didn't like the boringness of the one colour thing going on, and I didn't like the way the stems and the leaves of the flowers turned out at all. So back to the drawing board. The one thing I knew I would keep was the embroidery thread and the button.

Second attempt resulted in me trying out a two tone card. I decided once again to use bright cheery colours, and went with pink and orange. These were the colours that I used in my garden with all my annuals last year and I really love the look. I also decided to go with a bit more of a dramatic flare for the side piece of patterned paper and found the perfect paisley pattern with the colours I was looking for. I also decided to colour in the leaves with my copics.

Again it was alright. The leaves and stems were much better this time around, and the brighter more dramatic paper looked much better. I screwed up the stamping a bit though and there was too much white space at the top of the flowers and I didn't like the way the patterned paper looked a little boring and blank on the one side.

So off to try my hand at the sketch for a third time. This time I decided to stick to the two tone colours, but went with more of a contrast. I decided to use a light pink and a springy green. Again I found another version of the paisley paper, because I really loved the pattern. I fixed the problem with my stamping and leaving too much white space at the top of the flowers, and I decided to add a little bit more to the patterned paper I would do a zig zag stitch around the whole thing just to make it stand out a bit more. And of course I stuck with my original button and embroidery thread.

And you know what I really think the third time was in fact the charm. I'm really happy with the way the last card turned out. Now i just have to come up with a reason to send it to someone :)

Stamps: SU In Full Bloom

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics (YR15, RV14, RV29, YG17, RV13, RV02)

Paper: I have no idea because I accidently threw out the stickers, or cut off the label a while ago :)

Gift Bags

2011-04-04T14:13:00.002-04:00

I made todays card a while ago, almost two weeks ago in anticipation of my youngest sisters birthday. I kind of got sick of doing the whole cupcake birthday card thing, so I decided to use another stamped image. I had just recently purchased a set from There She Goes and decided that I wanted to use the gift bag that was part of the set. Initially I had stamped and coloured about 7 images and thought I would have a crazy gift bag frenzy on the card, but try as I might I just couldn't figure out a layout that would showcase them all and not have it looked like a jumbled mess. So I went with three. I picked the three brightest colours (thought you wouldn't know it from this picture since the lighting was total crap). I added some tissue paper to each of the bags. I wanted to add a little twine detail on the handles, but I couldn't get the twine to sit right and curve properly so I just left it as the stamped image.

I really like both the simplicity of the card, and the cuteness factor. I'll probably end up making one again in the future

A Card fit for a Fairy Pirate

2011-03-23T13:34:00.004-04:00

My lovely little baby turned 3 years old yesterday. The time has certainly flown by. When we started talking about her birthday a few months ago she told me she loved fairies and wanted a fairy cake. So I went with the fairy theme. Made the invites, had the cake all planned, then the silly little goose changed her mind and wanted to go with pirates. We went whole hog on the pirate theme when it came to her actual party, but she was out of luck when it came to her birthday card. I had a one track mind and that was for fairies.

I haven't done a mojo challenge for a while, so I thought I would do last week's sketch.

Seemed simple enough. A circle, a square and some ribbon. Not so simple. The fairy stamp I had in mind was huge in comparison to the dimensions of the actual card, so my sizing had to be a little off from the sketch, which was fine by me. I also had to change the orientation from the card to landscape in order to accomodate my Pink Cat Studios Enchanted Lily stamp

My daughter is not exactly the girliest of kids (you would never guess from the pirate request Ha). So I decided to go against her nature and make her a pink girly card (she'll probably hate me for this when she's a teenager). I thought since Lily was swinging from a tree and covered in flowery vines I would try to find a paper that had the same sort of theme. I managed to do just that, and it was pink to boot.

I also decided that since fairies aren't real (sorry to burst anyone's bubble out there) that I would make her a little whimsical and give her pink hair. I love the way her hair turned out. I'm also pretty impressed with myself and my colouring and shading of her dress. I added a little heart brad and tag with the make a wish on it just to make it a little more special for a birthday.

I'm pretty pleased overall with the way this turned out, considering I've been on a bit of a CAS kick lately and this card has a little bit more going on than a bunch of white space.

Stamps: PCS Enchanted Lily
Ink: Memento, Copics
Paper: Gina K, Recollections Itsy Bitsy Ditsy Cherry Pie
Other: Ribbon, Heart Brad.

Cupcakes Galore

2011-03-18T14:13:00.003-04:00

I'm almost there in the birthday card making marathon. This is number 3 of 5 that I have to get done by the end of next week. This one is going to my friend who is turning 35 but whose husband dropped the ball and now she isn't getting the birthday that she expected.

I wanted to do something fun with this card. I wanted to use a colour that I don't use very often and I wanted to try something that I don't think that I have tried before. I also knew I was kind of limited once again by my birthday stamps, and that I was going to have to likely go with cupcakes again. So I decided to use a cute polka dotted paper that I recently purchased. I figured it kind of looked sort of kitsch, which is kind of what cupcakes are. So I went with it, and just found a matching red to add a bit more umph

Recently I had noticed a few cards online that had used layers of scalloped punched paper. I thought that it would be perfect for this card since the edges of the punch went with the polka dots, mimicking the shape. I originally thought about doing the entire card background in the punched papers but then decided to just go halfway. I also wanted something to break up the solid red and the polka dots (and to hide an edge) and I found this cute little gingham ribbon so I went with it.

I had a really hard time trying to decide what colours to make the cupcakes. In the end I went with orange, pink and blue. I thought about doing yellow and maybe a red icing, and doing brown cupcakes papers, but decided against it. Because the card was already kind of busy I didn't have much space to put the sentiment, so I made a little tag with a birthday wish.

Stamps: TSG Make a Wish

Paper: Recollections Small Red Dots, Canson Red, Gina K Pure Luxury White Cardstock

Ink: Memento, Copics

Other: Ribbon, Jewelled Brad

Have your cake and eat it too !

2011-03-17T13:32:00.002-04:00

2 birthday cards down, 2 to go (well in the next week anyway). I have yet to decide who is getting this one, its either a friend or my sister. Not sure which. Really depends maybe on how the other cards I make turn out.

So I had a few goals with this one. I usually make cupcake birthday cards, only because those are really the only stamps that I have that sort of relate to birthdays, unless I'm making something for a little kid. I finally purchased a new birthday set, and although it is heavily laced with cupcakes, I decided to use one of the cakes.

I also knew that I wanted to use embroidery thread and a button somehow as accents. And finally I wanted it to be sort of spring like since the first day of spring is this weekend, and everyone's birthdays coming up are all within a few days of this day, so I went with green.

I stuck with my simple is best thing that I've been going with the last little while. Decided to just do one simple cake image, and a simple greeting at the top of the card. I didn't want to use all kinds of elaborate papers. I had the cross hatched paper in a stash of scraps that I've been holding onto. I think its a Martha Stewart paper, but I can't be sure. I thought it lent itself to the understated look I was going for and well I had thread and a button that would match perfectly.

I decided to make the cake a little whimisical with the colour choices just to add a little pop to the card. I had initially coloured in where the pearls are located on the card, but it just didn't seem right, so I decided to go ahead and add another little 3D element to it.

Stamps: There She Goes Make a Wish

Ink: Memento, Copics

Happy Happy Birthday Children Dear.........

2011-03-16T16:16:00.003-04:00

The birthday extragavanza continues. I have four birthdays to make cards for this week. Thought I would start off with what I thought would be the simplest card to make. My daughter has a little friend, who was born just three days before she was, and his birthday party is coming up this weekend. He's turning 3.

3 year olds don't need anything elaborate, so once again I've gone simple. I decided I didn't want to do any fancy schmancy designer paper, just wanted to use stamps and my copics. I also haven't used my SU stamp set All In The Family in about three years, so I decided to pull it out. This is the cute little design I came up with.

I thought it was perfect to just make a row of kids celebrating a kids birthday, so that is what I went with and of course this stamp set was perfect for it. The most difficult thing was lining up the stamps so that heads were on bodies and hats were on heads. You can see I had a little bit of an issue with some of them, but that's what you get with woodmounted stamps. You can't see where you are placing them.

I tried to make it as colourful as possible without going nuts. I think it worked out. I also decided the kids weren't enough so I added a little pop of colour with the ribbon. The one thing I think I maybe could have added was perhaps one of the kids holding a balloon. But I'm not going to go back and add that now.

The one thing I hope everytime I make a card for a kid is that the parents are like me and they save everything for their kids. I hope that sometime down the line this little boy will look back at his birthday cards a truly appreciate the time and effort (but he's a boy so he probably won't :P)

Stamps: SU All In The Family

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Paper: Gina K Luxury White Cardstock

A Heartfelt Thank You & Aloha

2011-03-10T20:19:00.005-05:00

My kids attend a local preschool. The teachers at the school are absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately late last year just before Christmas, one of the teachers (who happens to teach both my kids) had an accident at the school and broke her leg. She required surgery on the broken leg and has since been recovering and going to physio to get herself back to what she used to be. We've all missed her.

In the meantime the school found a wonderful replacement for her. Miss Katie. We love Miss Katie. My kids love Miss Katie. She's a fantastic teacher and just seems to really bond with the kids. Well Miss Katie is leaving the school, as Miss Cathy has finished her rehab and will be returning to teach after March Break. We are all going to miss Miss Katie. So I thought it was only the right thing to do to make her a thank you card to say what a wonderful job she has done and how much my kids thank her for caring about them for the last several months and to say Aloha.

I have really come to appreciate simple cards. Not too much going on. I thought about doing a sketch this week, went and looked at Mojo and almost had a heart attack looking at how busy it was. So I opted to go my own route.

We love everything Hawaiian in our family so I decided to go with a hibiscus stamp that I recently purchased from Verve. And of course this gave me the opportunity to once again practice with and use my new copic markers. I also tried something else for the very first time on a card: I took my lazy butt up to my sewing room and sewed a small little frame around the card.

The one thing that I'm not happy about is the thank you stamp that I used. I have a gazillion stamps. You would think that in a gazillion stamps I would have a decent thank you stamp. Just a simple thank you. But this was the best I could come up with. Its a little small. Something bigger, but just as simple I think would have looked better. So note to self, buy a better thank you stamp

All in all I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I like the colours I used, I think its vibrant, but has maintained the simplicity I was going for. Hopefully Miss Katie will like it.

Stamps: Verve Hibiscus; SU Short and Sweet

Other: Copic Markers, Momento Black Tuxedo Ink

A Fairy Happy 3rd Birthday

2011-03-09T13:46:00.003-05:00

At the end of the month my youngest daughter turns 3. So of course we are having a birthday party for the little monkey. We went back and forth on themes. She wanted fairies, then she wanted princesses, then tigers, then superheroes. I was all set to do the superhero thing, but couldn't find a superhero stamp. So I managed to convince her to go the fairy route.

As you may have read I'm the proud new owner of a bunch of new copics, so of course I decided why not this invite for the first try of the markers. I used a great Pink Cat Studio fairy stamp, and went to town colouring.

I also wanted to make sure that for keepsake purposes it was pretty evident which birthday this was for. So after digging through my stamps and trying out all kinds of flower and grass stamps I settled on an SU stamp from the Just Like You set. I added a little fairy dust and magically a little flowery 3 appeared :).

I'm not very good at shading (yet) but I will get better with practice. I also made a few mistakes and because when I started I didn't have a blender (they were on backorder) there wasn't much I could do to fix them. But I think it turned out okay for a first attempt

Oh and excuse the disgusting lighting on this picture. I have no idea what the heck was going on. I think my nice SLR is about to cack out.

Going where this stamper has never gone before

2011-02-23T16:31:00.002-05:00

I'm entering the world of copic user. I couldn't stand it anymore. I know I'm not the best colourer (is that even a word?) in the world, but it was made worse by the crap markers I had. I'm pretty good with my watercolour pencils and my chalks, but if I wanted more bold colours I needed to use markers. So I decided to take the plunge.

I bought 36 markers yesterday, with plans to buy at least another 15 more. Now I just have to wait for my new cardstock and memento ink to show up and its off to the copic races

I know that the copics aren't going to solve all my colouring issues, as some of them are my lack of ability, but with some practice they should help a little bit. Or at least that's what I told my husband when he had sticker shock when he saw the price of the markers. Ha! I told him cardmaking is a dangerous habit.

Hau`oli la hanau !

2011-02-16T10:27:00.003-05:00

Five years ago my sister and her family set out on a crazy adventure and they moved halfway around the world to Hawaii. Its been great. We get a trip out of it every year to the North Shore of Oahu in the middle of winter. We just got back from three weeks at the beginning of February and it was awesome. I love it there, and am mildly jealous that my sister lives there and can go to the beach anytime she feels like it, gets to wear shorts and flip flops year round......sigh if only.

My Brother In Laws birthday is coming up next week, and I decided because they live in the sun and surf that I was going with that theme for his gift and present. We bought a shirt and a hat from a store called Life is Good. The shirt has an old Woodie with a surfboard on it. Once I had the shirt in my hand I remembered that I actually owned a stamp set that had the same thing in it. I haven't used my SU Just Beachy set in ages, but of course it was great luck that I had it.

So I decided to go with some beachy colours and do a little beach scene using the woodie with the surfboard on the roof rack. I did all the colouring with my SU water colour pencils (they are quickly becoming my favourite tool to use for colouring)

I think its pretty cool Dude!

Stamps: SU Just Beachy

Ink: Colourbox Dragonfly Black & SU Watercolour pencils

Paper: Random scraps of cardstock

Little Pinky Bunny

2011-02-14T10:50:00.003-05:00

My little sister is having a baby in a few weeks. She had her baby shower on the weekend. So of course a card was in order.

When we first found out she was having a baby and found it was going to be a girl, for fun we asked my 2 kids what they thought the baby's name should be. Of course they came up with something awesome. The first thing that both of them said was Pinky. I asked my oldest what she thought the middle name would be, and after some pondering she announced that my sister and BIL would of course give the baby the middle name Bunny.

Since that day my kids have been looking forward to the arrival of Pinky Bunny. They talk about her all the time. I'm almost positive that no matter what my sister decides to name her baby that my kids will call her Pinky Bunny anyway.

So I made a card just for Pinky Bunny. I used a Pink Cat Studios digi stamp. I only had one other set of "baby" stamps and I've used it for years. I didn't want to buy a whole new set of stamps, so the digi was the best option, and of course Pink Cat Studios has some pretty cute ones.

I had a perfect design in my head, but it didn't really turn out how I wanted it. I had a hard time choosing a background paper that I liked, and I just didn't end up liking the colour combinations that I used for the solids and the buttons. But cest la vie. I went with it. My sister liked it

2 Littlest Valentines

2011-02-13T16:07:00.002-05:00

I have two kids, two little girls under the age of 5. What do little girls love more than anything? Pink and cute little animals. The two of them are obsessed with "stuffies", and pretty much my life revolves around all things pink. So hey Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity to exploit both of those.

I really really loathe colouring in stamped images. I'm horrible at it, but sometimes that's just what you have to do. I've tried markers (all been them a bit on the crappier side) and I've done the whole chalk thing. I find I'm best using my watercolour pencils from Stampin Up. I'm still not awesome at it, and they don't really have the most in terms of colour collections but that's what I ended up using for both of these cards to colour in the stamped images.

I also branched out this time and used a digi stamp for the first time. The heart teddy bear came from Pink Cat Studios. It took me a long time to decide to use a digi stamp just because of its unconventional-ness, but I went with it, and i think it worked out well in this case.

Anyway, without further adieu this is what I came up with for my kids. A swingin' Monkey and a balloon toting bear :)

Monkey Card:

Stamps: Verve Love Monkey, Verve Heart to Heart, Verve Forever in our Hearts

Paper: GCD Studios Light Stripe, Rose Coloured Glasses

Ink: SU Pink Passion, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery

Other: SU Watercolour Pencils, Embroidery Thread, Offrey Ribbon

Bear Card:

Stamps: Verve Heart to Heart, Pink Cat Studios Heart Teddy Bear

Ink: Rose Red

Paper: GCD Studios Rose Circles

Other: Embroidery Thread

Baby Baby Baby ooooh....

2011-02-09T13:41:00.002-05:00

I'm embarrassed to say I have Justin Bieber on the brain :)

A friend of mine is having her second child in a couple of weeks. I only see her about once a month as we have a regular dinner set up, and by the time next months dinner rolls around she will have hopefully given birth. So tonight is the last dinner before the baby arrives.

I got busy making stuff for her. We were away in Hawaii for a couple of weeks in January and while I was there I managed to pick up some awesome Hawaiian fabric. I decided to use it to make a blanket, a bib and a burp cloth for her (I make this pretty much for everyone I know having a kid). Unfortunately I didn't take pictures before I wrapped it, but trust me they look awesome with the fabric.

She doesn't know whether or not she is having a boy or a girl, so the card I made to go with the present had to be fairly neutral. I decided to go with yellow as my base colour. I really liked the cards I made for my sisters baby shower a while ago so I also decided to go ahead and do the same for my friend. So she got herself a onesie card again. I can't help myself though I had to girly it up a bit with the bow.

Be Mine - Mojo 177

2011-02-08T13:51:00.002-05:00

I haven't participated in a Mojo Monday sketch challenge for a long team, even though I look at them every single week. As soon as I saw this week's sketch though I knew that I was going to go ahead and make a card using it, and put my own little spin on it.

Right after Christmas I loaded up on Verve stamps, most of them were Valentine related, so what better a time to use them. Valentine's is just a bit less then a week away and I need to make at least 3 of them for the kids and the husband. I always have a hard time coming up with something for my husband. I want it to be not to feminine, not too masculine, not to cheesy. All tough things when it comes to Valentine's, hearts and pretty much all things pink.

As soon as I saw the sketch for this week I knew I was going to attempt to make a mini envelope on my card. It fits in perfect with the sketch, and what better to fill a valentine envelope with than a couple of hearts and little message.

So here's what I came up with:

I'm really pleased with this card. You can't really see it in the photo but the two hearts look like they are almost popping out of the envelope. I'm also really happy with the way the colour combinations came together, and I think the dotted paper that I used lent itself perfectly to the occasion.

Stamps: Verve: Flirty Phrases, Heart to Heart

Ink: SU Pretty In Pink, Rose Red

Paper: Paper Co Ruby Jewel, GCD Rose Coloured Glasses Stripes

Other: Recollections Pearl Stickers.

Holy Buttons Batman!

2011-02-07T18:47:00.002-05:00

Day one of Cardapalooza. My daughter attended what seems like her 1,356,749th birthday party for one of the kids in her school. It took place at an indoor playground, which seems like the statutory place to hold a five year olds birthday party. Not particularly inspiring.

I don't really know the little boy the party was for, so didn't really have much to go on to personalize the card. Heck even my daughter didn't really know what he would like and she spends every afternoon with the kid. So I decided to go pretty neutral

Last week on the Mojo Monday sketch they had a sort of swooping design so I decided to go with that as my inspiration. I also hit Michael's this week to find some new paper (ha not that I needed any I must already have over 1000 pieces of the stuff), and I found one that looked like it belonged on a birthday card. Lots of colourful dots. I figured what better than buttons to go with the dots. So I did my best to match the colour of the dots with the buttons that I had on hand and this was the outcome.

I think its cute, turned out pretty good. My stamping was pretty crap, because for some reason the ink that I used wouldn't adhere to my new Verve stamp, and the paper got a little crumpled on the edge thanks to the rambunctiousness of my 2 year old.

In other news, it appears that the top of my grand piano seems to be the perfect place to take a picture of a card, especially when the sun is out.

Stamps & Ink: Verve Stamps Happy Birthday, SU Brilliant Blue
Paper: Recollections CardStock, Brightlights Big City
Other: Misc Buttons

Card-a-palooza

2011-02-04T20:30:00.001-05:00

The next two months are going to be a Card-a-palooza for me. I have birthdays coming out the ying yang. New babies waiting to be born all over the place, and of course, the big pink and red day coming up in a week and a half, Valentine's day!

I be a little bit more active on my blog in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I will actually get some time to sit down and make some cards :)

Woot Woot - Boxing Week Score

2010-12-29T18:24:00.002-05:00

I decided last night that, even though I don't really need any stamps, I would search out some company that had some awesome deals for Boxing Week.

And well I must say YAY for Verve. I score some awesomely awesome deals. I managed to get these stamp sets all for under $40

Worlds Best
All About You
Heart to Heart
Poinsettia Christmas
Love Monkey
Flirty Phrases
Happy Birthday
Hibiscus
Little Star

I think that's a pretty good haul

Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice

2010-12-24T13:03:00.003-05:00

My younger sister is expecting a baby in early March, a little girl (YAY for little girls). Currently she is living in Europe with her husband, who is a professional hockey player and playing for a team there. She is coming home to have the baby though, and leaving her husband behind, which isn't the best thing that could happen. She'll be back in February, so my Mom and one of my Mom's friends are having a huge baby shower for her. They tasked me with making the invites for the shower. It was a bit of a daunting task, since I needed to do about 70 of them, and they needed to be done in four days, and well I was told this four days before christmas. So a little bit of a crazy time.

First thing I did was go to splitcoast and check out some ideas. There are a tonne of cardmakers that have made a onesie designed card. I thought it was super cute, and seemed quick and easy to make. So I went with it. Here's what I ended up with:

I could have embellished a lot more, but time was of the essence and well I've come to really appreciate simplicity. I have also come to hate tying tiny little pink bows :)

It was beginning to look like christmas a long time ago

2010-12-20T18:13:00.004-05:00

I had a whole load of ambition this year when it came to making christmas cards. I found my inspiration card on splitcoaststampers.com (I can't find it anymore so I can't post a link to the original makers, for which I apologize) and was all set to go to work on my christmas cards in late October. I had most of it done by mid-november, slacked off a little and finally didn't get the finishing touches done (the stamped inside sentiment) until about a week ago. So I've had these puppies sitting around for a long time.

Pretty simple to make really. Cut out a few rectangles of white card stock. I chalked them with some cold sparkly chalk just to give the door a little depth. Cut out the wreaths with my cricut. I used self adhesive paper which was both a good and bad thing. The adhesive on it kind of sucks, so I'm not sure how well my cards will travel in the mail, but I hope they last. Without the self adhesive they would have been a pain in the butt to put onto the card. Add a few little sparkly jewels, a bow and there you have it. I think they are cute and turned out well.

Now after thinking I was way ahead of the game by having these all done, I had to add more people to the list. I had no more supplies for the other card to make more of the door ones, nor did I really have time if I wanted people to get cards before christmas. So I came up with these three.

I used a glue stamp pad for them, added a little glitter, slapped some ribbon on and had 15 cards made in no time. I think they turned out really well and now I'm actually kind of kicking myself thinking I should have just made these ones as my main card because they were so simple to make and I think they look pretty classy. Maybe next year.

Anyway, hoping anyone who is reading this has a safe and happy holidays and a wonderful 2011!

Another Day, Another Birthday

2010-10-21T13:35:00.003-04:00

Its a miracle, I've now posted something a few days in the row. The world must be coming to an end ha ha.

It appears that birthday season at school has started. I hope to heck that my kid does not get invited to every other kids birthday party, that she knows from school. First I don't want to go to 15 birthday parties, and I certainly don't want to buy presents for them all. But making cards, sure I'll do that.

She has a birthday party this afternoon for a little boy in her class. Now being the Mom of girls it is actually really difficult for me to come up with cards for little boys. I have very few non feminine stamps in my craft drawers, and I'm used to all things pink.

So I went hunting, and I found my very seldom used SU Wagon Full of Fun stamp set and went from there. I decided to make a wagon full of cupcakes. Pretty straight forward. The cupcakes ended up looking kind of weird in the middle the way they are stacked up but I still think it looks pretty cool. My daughter helped me pick out the colours for the cupcakes, and gave me the brilliant idea of using buttons for the wheels (ahhhh what a good little crafter)

I know the kid will not really give a crap that he's getting a homemade card, that took a lot of thought and actually a lot of work (cutting out nine little cupcakes was a bit of a pain), but it gave me something to do to get my creative juices flowing.

Paper: American Crafts; Backyard Drip

Ink: SU Chocolate Chip

Stamps: SU Bitty Basics, SU Wagon Full of Fun

Happy Happy Birthday

2010-10-20T11:40:00.002-04:00

We have the best babysitters in the world. We were lucky when we moved into our house. We moved in to a house that was next door to a house that had three teenage girls living in it. All of them have babysat for us for the past four years. They have all been awesome and my kids love them to death. Unfortunately we are on the last one and she is almost ready to go off to University. I don't know what the heck we are going to do when that happens.

Anyway it was our sitters birthday two weekends ago. My kids and I made her this little card, just to say thanks for being such a great kid. I wanted to do something bright and fun because that is what our babysitter is.

The kids picked out the pink cardstock, the ribbon and picked out the ink and buttons that we used for the flowers. They helped me stamp the flowers and glue the buttons on. The rest was up to me :)

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. If I could have changed one thing I would have maybe added a couple of more flowers and made the sentiment a little bigger, but otherwise I think it did the job

Going to the Chapel.....

2010-10-18T14:04:00.002-04:00

This weekend we are going to a wedding. I really don't know much about the couple that is getting married. I haven't seen either of them in about a year, I have no idea when the last time my husband saw the bride was (they are friends from MBA school).

So trying to personalize a card for their upcoming nuptials was a bit hard. The only thing I really had to go on was their wedding invitation. So I went with that. The invitation was Black and Green and had swirlies on it

I always try to make these beautiful wedding cards whenever we go to a wedding, and they never really turn out as well as I expect them to. So this time I decided to go with a bit of whimsy and kitch and I went with hearts. In June I made a card for my husband for father's day that looked like a suit (I can't remember if I blogged about it). So I decided I'd make one heart the groom and one the bride. I could have done a way better job ont he groom heart, I could have made the tux look better by making it with lapels, but I only had about 1/2 an hour to pull this baby together, so I went simple. I also had different paper to use for the bride heart, but it just didn't pop enough so I went with sparkly instead.

I think it turned out alright. Its not my favourite card I've ever made, but hey at least its something.

Paper: Bazill Basics Bank Roll
Ink: SU Certainly Celery
Stamps: Baroque Motif

Simplicity

2010-09-20T14:36:00.002-04:00

I haven't made any cards in ages, but finally had to make one for my nieces birthday. I've been sitting on this for almost a month now, and have procrastinated and procrastinated, and I'm finally just sending it off with her birthday present today (well I was away on vacation in there for 8 days so that's my excuse)

My kids wanted to help, so we had to go simple, and that's what we did. We used just plain blue and white cardstock. One stamp from the SU Big Bold Birthday collection, and we glued on a few buttons. They were both really happy that they got to help and I think it turned out to be a cute card.

Finally something to post and its not a card

2010-08-31T16:15:00.003-04:00

Finally got off my butt and bought myself a charger for my camera battery. So I took some pictures of my craftiness. I don't have any cards to post, but I do have a little sewing project to brag about. A friend of mine has a 3 year old son who loves to help her cook. That means he loves to get himself messy with whatever they are cooking. She asked me to make him an apron and I gladly obliged. I'm pretty proud of this. I managed to make it without a pattern. I think it turned out great and by all reports the new owner just loves helping Mom while wearing his shark apron

I've Got Nothing

2010-07-26T14:06:00.002-04:00

Over the past month or so I've had so many occassions to make cards for. Why haven't I posted any? Couple reasons. First I'm lazy. I've turned into a big fat lazy blob. For the first time in many years I actually went out and purchased birthday cards for two of my daughter's friends. I'm completely ashamed to admit that ;P

Second reason. I've lost the battery charger for my camera. I have searched this house high and low and cannot locate it anywhere (along with several other chargers that were with it - maybe they've secretly stolen off somewhere to be free). I'm not willing to shell out the $80 for a new one either. So my kids are not having their summer documented at all, and my cardmaking (the few that I've made) haven't been documented either.

Eventually I'll relent. I'll either find the camera gear or I'll buy a new one. I'm not at that point yet though :)

Hartelijk gefeliciteerd!

2010-06-30T13:50:00.003-04:00

My Brother In Law's birthday is tomorrow. He's one of the hardest people to buy for. If you ask him what he wants he says nothing or comes up with something stellar like Tim Hortons. So its tough to come up with something unique that he will actually like and get some use out of.

Trying to make a birthday card for him is almost as tough. He's a manly man type of guy. He's a hockey player so tough is a pretty good word to describe him. So making a card with all kinds of fancy paper, sparkles, and ribbon is sort of out of the question.

A few days ago I had a bit of an epiphany. He and my sister are moving to the Netherlands in September. He loves soccer. World cup is on right now. So best conclusion is buy the guy a Dutch World Cup Soccer Jersey. And with that it made my card making a little bit easier.

I found this cardhttp://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1735673?&si=simply repeated on Splitcoaststampers and used it as my inspiration. Not to frilly, simple colours, simple design. Here's what I came up with:

I decided to go with the whole Netherlands theme. I went with the Orange background, because as anyone who has watched any kind of international sports knows, the dutch are usually decked out in orange (its the colour of their royal house). I used embroidery thread using orange again and two of the colours from the flag of the Netherlands, the third colour white is of course the background. The ink I used for the stamps was blue and I coloured in the cupcake with orange and red, again going with the whole theme. Of course I had to throw in just a little bling. What's a birthday card without bling? So I used a little tiny silver embellishment to top off the cupcake.

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I would have been even more happy if I hadn't messed up the happy birthday stamp, but this was the third time I'd made this (thanks to four little busy hands attached to a 4 yr old and 2 yr old, who like to draw on things they aren't supposed to) so I just went with the screw up

Stamps: SU Big Bold Birthday, SU Bitty Basics

Ink: SU Night of Navy

Paper: Recollections cardstock.

With Sympathy - Mojo 144

2010-06-24T13:37:00.004-04:00

I have been totally neglectful in posting pictures of my handywork. I've made a bunch of cards in the last little while, just haven't taken pictures of them, and haven't taken the time to post anything about them.

I needed to make a card and couldn't decide what to do, so I decided to turn to Mojo Monday for inspiration. This is this week's sketch:

\ Last night we got news that one of my husbands uncle's had passed away. We had no idea that he was gravely ill. We had known for a while that he was ill, just not anywhere close to knowing the full extent of his illness. So, not really a happy moment to make a card for, but nonetheless I wanted to make a handmade card to express our sympathies to his aunt.

I decided to use green as my main colour. I didn't want to go too bright so I chose to use a bit of a muted celery green in a criss cross pattern as the main background colour of the card. I mostly chose the green because I didn't want the card to be too gloomy, I wanted it to have a bit of brightness to it. I chose to tone down the green a bit by using a few brown accents.

This was the first time I had the occassion to use this Verve stamp set (thank goodness it was the first time, its not really great to have to use it), but I think that the sentiments that are with it, and the simplicity of the stamps really lends itself to the occassion for which the card was made.

I'm quite happy with the way that it turned out, even though its with a bit of a heavy heart that I made it.

Paper: Bazill Basics Petty Cash & Suede Dark Brown, Martha Stewart
Ink: SU Old Olive
Stamps: Verve Forever In Our Hearts

Bringing the Zoo to You

2010-05-12T15:02:00.002-04:00

The first kid is turning 4 in a couple of weeks, so its that time again. Birthday Invitation time. I have so much stuff going on right now its absolutely crazy, so I didn't have a lot of time to sit and think about this one. I also didn't have time to do stamp anything, so this card is all about the cricut.

The kid is having an animal party. We've hired a company to come in that brings furry little animals, or snakes, lizards, crocodiles that sort of thing. I asked my daughter what she really wanted to come to the house and the number one answer was a turtle, so that is the animal that got front billing on the card.

I thought about making three or four turtles in a row. Each of them walking with a present on its back, but I thought that was a little presumptuous, and just went with the single turtle and his big bunch of balloons.

The turtle and the "you're invited" I cut out with my cricut using adhesive backed paper and the Beyond Birthday's and In my Garden cartridges. The balloons were made just using a circle punch and then the strings on the balloons are embroidery thread.

I think its a pretty simple card, and just alright. My daughter loves it though and thinks its the best thing since sliced bread, and really that's all that matters right?

Hippity Hop Hop - Mojo 133

2010-04-10T14:57:00.002-04:00

There appears to be an explosion of little bunnies in my household :). I've made a couple of cards in the past few weeks using Bunnies because its really the only baby related stamp that I have and really like, and well my friends are going through a mini baby boom. The latest had a baby on Friday, so I got down to work earlier in the week. I decided to use another Mojo sketch to inspire my creation.

So here's what I came up with.

My friend had chosen to not find out the gender of her newest little one, so I needed to use a neutral palette for the colours. I decided to go with the classic green and yellow. I love using greens in cards especially if its springtime. It just makes everything seem super fresh and bright. Because the majority of the card was green I went with making the bunny yellow to match the accent solid that I used. To make the bunny look soft I chose to use blending chalks instead of markers, and I also chose to give it a little bit more depth by using an orange to blend in with the yellow. And of course I needed to just give it a bit more pop, so I raised the bunny off the card itself and then chose to do the same with the bow.

I'm pretty pleased with my little bunny card. I gave up doing the Mojo sketches for a long time because I was completely intimidated by the talent of some of the cardmakers participating in it, but I've decided rather than be intimidated to look at the cards that come from the sketch and use them as inspiration. I learn a lot from them and from the other cardmakers, so even though I don't think my card is even close to being on the level of some of the others, meh I think its still cute.

Paper: Martha Stewart (I think its from a series called picnic), Recollections Yellow Cardstock

Stamps: SU A New Little Someone

Chalks: Inkadinkado Blending Chalks

Other: Dahses Dots & Checks ribbon, Mark Richards Crystals

Better Late.....

2010-04-05T14:14:00.002-04:00

Last week I thought I was incredibly organized, and I was out of ideas in terms of card making, so I decided to take a look at Mojo Monday and see what kind of sketch they had come up with for the week. I found this, and thought it was a decent sketch and I could do something with it.

The problem. I wasn't as organized as I thought. I didn't get around to actually taking pictures of the card I did for last week's sketch until this morning, so I didn't get a chance to upload it, but oh well, its better late then never right?

I didn't do a round card, because well I'm not that good and I have no idea how to actually make a round card. I didn't make the card square either because I don't have square envelopes and the last time I attempted to make one it was an abysmal failure. So I went with my standard card.

I needed to make another baby card, so once again I had to turn to the only set of baby stamps that I own, my trusted little SU A New Little Someone. Gosh if this set didn't exist I'm not sure what I would do. I made this for a friend who is due to have her 2nd in a matter of weeks, and she knows she is having a girl. I figured why not go with complete pink overload. I don't often like to mix patterns of papers but I thought using 3 different patterns and a solid with this card would work out well because the patterns were all fairly subtle.

I have massive issues with bows. I have a horrible time tying decent ones, so I cheated a bit on this one and just made a simple loopy ribbon and used a brad to hold it in place.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with my little pink bunny. Now all I have to do is get my butt in gear and get organized enough to actually sew the gift I'm making for my friend. We are supposed to be going out for dinner next Wednesday so it gives me a bit of time, but I'm the queen of procrastination.

Stamps: SU A New Little Someone

Ink: Colourbox Black, Inkadinkado blending chalks: Bold Brights

Paper: Embossed Daisy, TPC Tinted Dawn

Brad: SU Filigree

Ribbon: Straight n Arrow Offrey

Two for One

2010-03-17T14:37:00.005-04:00

The birthday card parade continues. One of the stamp sets that I had left to use for the cards I was making was Polka Dots and Petals. I saw a design on Split Coast that I really liked and decided to go with it as my inspriation card

I decided to once again use really springy type colours. So I chose to go with Yellow and Pink. I needed to use the black to anchor the colours as the white just wasn't doing it. Once it was all said and done though I wasn't really happy with the outcome

So I decided to try again. Using the same design I modified the colours that I used. I ditched the crazy yellow and went with all pinks, and chose to go with something a little less harsh than the black to anchor the whole card, so I went with a chocolate brown. I think the second card turned out much better. The only thing that I'm still not happy with is the way the stamping turned out on the darker strip of pink paper. I had initially tried both a dark pink and a white ink to stamp the pattern in, but neither of those looked right. So I tried a shimmery pink. Still not really happy with it, but it was the best of the three choices that I went with.

I asked my almost 4 year old daughter which card she preferred, and what a surprise the crazy kid chose the most colourful of the two.

Card #1

Stamps: SU Polka Dots & Petals

Ink: SU Pixie Pink, Dew Drop Brilliance Orchid, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Recollections Cardstock

Other: Dashes Dots & Checks Ribbon

Card #2

Stamps: SU Polka Dots & Petals

Ink: SU Pretty In Pink, Chocolate Chip & Dew Drop Brilliance Orchid

Paper: Bazzil Basics Mudpie, Paper Company Tinted Dawn

Other: Dashes Dots & Checks Ribbon

Spring Fling

2010-03-15T14:07:00.002-04:00

Spring has almost sprung here in Southern Ontario. The weather has been decently nice (although I hear its going to get colder again this weekend), the temps are staying above freezing at night. Its liking like spring is on its way.

As I mentioned in my previous post I needed to make a few birthday cards, and I wanted them all to have a "spring" theme to them because the birthdays all happen right around the first day of spring.

For this one I decided to use on of my rarely used stamp sets again, Just Like You. I haven't used this set in so long that I had forgotten what exactly was in it. I tried a few other designs but just couldn't get anything to come out as bright and vibrant as I wanted. So I decided to just use stamps and ink. No fancy cutting out of papers, and gluing thousands of tiny parts together. Just simple stamps ink, and two scraps of green paper

I think it turned out really nicely. Its nice and bright and cheery and looks like a bunch of spring flowers just blooming. I really like the ink colours I chose. I think they compliment each other nicely and I think the background of the green paper really shows off the vibrancy of the ink.

Stamps: SU Just Like You & Sincere Salutations
Ink: SU Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Only Orange

A Star is Born

2010-03-12T08:42:00.003-05:00

Birthdays are everywhere at the end of March. I have at least four cards to make for friends/family who are born between March 22 and March 27. So I thought I'd better get started sooner rather than later.

I have a few stamp sets that I rarely use from SU. In Full Bloon, Just Like You, In the Stars and Polka Dots and Petals. I decided that those were the stamps I was going to use to make my cards. I also decided since the birthdays all fall just around the date that spring starts that I was going to use all "spring" colours. Colours that all seem fresh and bright.

So here it is, the first card

I originally started out this design thinking I would use the Polka Dots and Petals stamp set, because I wanted to do circles. I cut off about 1/2 inch of the top portion of the card to make room for the various sized circles that I had cut out so that the card would have fairly even edges. I just used scraps of paper that I had left over. I decided that using the stamps from the Polka Dots and Petals would be too much in terms of cirlces. It would be circle overload, so I went with the In the Stars instead.

The ribbon I've used I have had for over two years and haven't used it once. It had the perfect colour combo on it, and went great with the colours I had already used. I tried just using a strip of the ribbon at first but it looked weird so I went with a bow.

So this card will be for my Little Star who was born on March 22, 2008. I can't believe she's almost two. Time flies

Stamps: SU In The Stars

Ink: SU Green Galore

Paper: Recollections Cardstock

Other: Dashes Dots & Checks

2010-03-04T13:54:00.002-05:00

In my last post I mentioned that I needed some inspiration for my #2 daughter's second birthday. The kid is completely obsessed with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She loves the song, walks around singing, reads books that are all about the song, talks about it constantly. When I say obsessed I mean obsessed.

Her little obsession of course gave me the perfect out for having to think up a birthday party theme for her. She's just having a family birthday but its still fun to do up invitations so that she will have memories when she's older of what she did on her birthdays. So we went with a Star theme:

Originally I was thinking of doing something a little bit more "twinkly" but I saw this american crafts paper and though it was perfect. Lots of girly colours, but not too crazy girly, and light and fun. I decided not to go the stamp route. I have a few star stamps but I'm not overly fond of any of them. So I went with the cricut. I cut the star, #2 and the You're Invited with my handy dandy little machine that rarely gets used.

The inside of course was my downfall. I could not find anyway to come up with a cute little rhyme that incorporated Twinkle, Star and Two. So she gets a boring little poem inside inviting people to her birthday.

I'm pretty happy with the way the card turned out. Oh and apparently I have found a pretty good spot to take pictures in my house. I know its taken for freaking ever, but I found it. My dining room between 1 and 2 pm has awesome sunlight. I think the picture turned out pretty good (better then all my other ones anyway)

Paper: American Crafts Hi Y'all; Bazill Basics Pinkini

Other: Alphalicious Cricut Cartridge

Moving on Up

2010-02-23T14:02:00.004-05:00

I had run out of things to make cards for. I have no upcoming birthdays to make a card for, there are no other events happening with my family or friends that requires a card for the occassion, so I was going to make a few blank cards and just keep them in case of emergency.

However, just my luck I got a great excuse to make a card. A friend of mine just got an awesomely awesome promotion at work. She moving up in the world and I'm so happy for her because I know how hard she works and how much it really means to her especially after a bit of at trying year. So a Congratulations card was in order

I have seen all kinds of cards people have made using flowers out of paper. I think it was from a PTI challenge but I'm not entirely sure on that. I decided to try my hand at making them. I had a bunch of scrap paper that had a bit of a shimmer to it so I thought that would be perfect for the flower. Once I had chosen that it basically led to the card having a purple theme.

I think it turned out really nicely. I like the layout and the colour scheme and the flower didn't turn out too badly either.

Paper: Recollections cardstock

Stamps & Ink: Inkadinkado Congratulations; SU Elegant Eggplant

Other: Dashes Dots and Checks purple velveteen ribbon; Recollections Bright Mini Cirlces Brad; SU Scallop Border and Circle Punch

It's that time of year....Birthday invites

2010-02-18T15:12:00.002-05:00

I'm busy brainstorming about birthday invites for kid #2. Her 2nd birthday is coming up in about a month. I need to get on the invite bus and start working on these things. I have a pretty good idea what is going to be going on in terms of stamps, paper choices etc, my problem as always is what kind of silly poem to put on the invite to tell everyone that its her party and she's turning two.

The theme is going to be Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The kid loves this song. When I say Loves, I really mean LOOOOOOOOOVES this song. She sings it probably 700 times a day. The hard part, try to rhyme star with two. It just doesn't work.

If anyone has any suggestions, help a girl out :)

Deja Vu

2010-02-17T09:07:00.002-05:00

About a week ago I sat down to make a birthday card for my BIL. I knew I was going to have to use cupcakes because its really the only birthday like stamps that I have. So I just needed to come up with a design. I had remembered seeing an awesome birthday card last fall sometime that had four small cupcakes on squares. So that's what I decided to do.

I love the American Crafts Paper. So that's what I set out to use. Once I picked the paper I found the contrasting colours to layer. Of course I ended up going with Orange and Red again, as they are my go to masculine birthday card colours (I really need to break out of that rut). I also decided I wanted to use a little ribbon accent across the bottom. I have had this AC ribbon FOREVER and have never really been able to use it, but I think it goes perfectly with this card.

So I look at the finished product. I keep looking at it and thinking I've seen this card before having massive Deja Vu. And well I went on a search to find it. I knew I had seen it and I found it. I basically stole this design from my awesome friend Emily over at Art From the Heart. She makes the best cards, so Emily if you read this sorry for stealing your design but take it as a compliment :) I have no creative ability at all and you clearly do. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Paper: American Crafts Giddy; Canson Red; PC Primary Orange
Stamps: Inkadinkado Birthday Cupcakes
Other: Martha Stewart Markers, American Crafts Ribbon

One Track Mind (a late valentine post)

2010-02-16T18:45:00.003-05:00

Sorry this is a few days late. I can't lie, I didn't have a busy weekend, the exact opposite actually. I had my entire weekend free. The kiddies went off on a mini vacay with their dad to visit Grandpa and Grandma and I was left alone in sheer quiet bliss. I got so lazy I couldn't even drag my butt downstairs to get on the computer to post my Valentine cards.

So here they are. I made them days apart (actually two were made two weeks apart). So I didn't even realize until I had them all lined up to take pictures that I clearly have a one track mind. This time it was all about ribbon and bows running along the botton 1/3 of the card. Everyone got a bow on their card this year.

I didn't take note of the papers or anything when I made these and well now I can't be bothered to go back and figure it out. What I do know is Card #1 used Verve's Hundred Hearts set, Card #2 was some random heart stamp I had that probably came from the bargain bin at Michael's, and Card #3 used Pink Cat Studios Sweet Treats. The first card was for the husband, the last two were for the kiddies.

Cooking up some Cupcakes

2010-02-04T16:25:00.004-05:00

I always find it really difficult to make masculine cards. I'm not sure if its just because I'm a girl, my kids are girls and I'm surrounded by pink all day long, or what. I have a hard time picking out colours, sentiments, you name it. Its always a big conundrum for me.

I need to make two birthday cards this month, that both have to be masculine. So I decided to do sketch #53 in my Joy of Cardmaking book. Its a fairly simple sketch that I thought could easily be done with solid colours. Solids are the easiest for me to go with when I have to make a non-girly card.

So I decided to go with bright happy colours. I chose yellow as the base of the card and layered it with orange. I decided that I couldn't do the entire thing out of solids because it just didn't look right so I threw in a striped paper as well.

The only non-girly birthday stamps that I have that don't involve flowers, fairies or princesses paraphernalia are cupcakes, so that's what I had to go with. I decided just to stamp out three simple little cupcakes and colour them in colours that complimented the striped paper.

I think it turned out alright. I'm not particularly happy with the white backgrounds of the squares (there is a hint of yellow behind them) but I tried a few other colours and they just didn't look right either, so white was the one that looked the best of the worst.

I was also going to have my first go at sewing on a card for this one, but got lazy and didn't feel like dragging my butt up to the sewing machine, or fooling around with the tension. So it stayed simple as simple could be.

Excuse the picture as always. Taken in the basement on the floor. Its the best I could do today :)

Paper: Starfish & Dreams Spiked Punch, Paper Co Festive Orange & Sunny Yellow

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo Birthday Cupcakes; SU Big Bold Birthday

Other: Martha Stewart Markers Tropical Sun; Daffodil; Lovebird; Cornflower meadow

A Trusted Old Friend

2010-02-03T14:00:00.004-05:00

I have a friend who is about to pop any second. Her due date was last Thursday and she still has no signs of going into labour. She's scheduled for an induction on Friday, but you just never know if baby will show up sooner. I'm such a horrible procrastinator that I left making a congratulations/welcome new baby card until after her due date, but I thought I have to get it done before her induction date.

I decided to go back to an old stamp set that I haven't used in ages. SU's A New Little Someone. I love this set, but I haven't had the chance to use to for almost two years now. None of my friends have had a baby in that time. I figured it was time to pull out the bunny and put it to work.

As per a post I made a long time ago, I followed a sketch in my Paper Crafts Joy of Cardmaking book. Its Recipe 42 on page 102 of the book.

I know that the baby is going to be a girl so I wanted to go with something that was pink, but also wanted to add in a few other colours. So I chose a striped paper that had some other muted pastels in it. I used the colours from the striped paper to choose the colours for the bunny as well as the other accent papers. Of course I have no idea what any of the papers are because I always forget to write them down or the paper doesn't have the info on the paper itself as it was some part of a block of paper, so your guess is as good as mine.

I also decided to give the bunny a little 3D effect. I think it kind of sucks, but what can you do. I'm not sure I chose the right parts to make 3D, but I've learned for next time.

I also think my colouring technique still really sucks. I'm not sure its all me though, I'm sure part if it is the markers I'm using, since I kind of cheaped out on them, but I can't justify spending more money on markers nor do I have the time to learn how to perfect the colouring technique required to use ones like copics. So this is what you get.

I think it turned out alright.

Back in the swing of things

2010-02-03T09:16:00.002-05:00

Since christmas I haven't had much time, or I just haven't been around to do any cardmaking. Of course Christmas and new years is always crazy and hectic with family stuff, and then we were away in Hawaii for a few weeks. But I'm back and I've been doing a little cardmaking. I just need to take some pictures. February appears to be a fairly busy month for my little hobby. I have a couple of birthdays, of course Valentine's day, a friend who is due to have her baby any second (not only do I need to make a card but I need to get the old sewing machine out and get on my little sewing project for her), and then I have to come up with and design a birthday invite for Kid #2's second birthday.

Things have been dead on my blog for a long time, but hopefully I won't get super lazy and I will actually have some things to post.

Winter Wonderland

2009-11-24T10:28:00.003-05:00

I am having a horrible horrible time coming up with a design for my christmas cards this year. Some of the ones I've posted I've liked, but haven't loved. I also haven't had a lot of time, and I'm cutting it short. I'm not going to have much time to make the bazillion cards that I need to , and actually get them out in the mail on time.

I decided to try two more designs. They are fairly simple. The first one is a modification of a design that I saw in Martha Stewarts latest mag. Its just a simple little serene winter scene.

I also decided to try my hand at paper quilling. I'm not really happy with the results but its more my lack of ability when it comes to the quilling then anything. I just need some practice.

I'm hoping to figure out what the heck I'm going to be doing in the next couple of days. Maybe one of these will be coming to your mailbox soon :)

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let it Snow

2009-10-27T12:41:00.003-04:00

Let it Snow, not really. I have no interest in there being snow now or anytime in the near future (or the future at all for that matter), but the two christmas cards I made this week have a bit of a snow theme so I figured it fit.

I decided to break out the old cricut. I have had this thing for two years. I begged my Mom to buy it for me for my birthday and I've hardly ever used it. I figured now was as good a time as any.

I went shopping at Michael's (oh how I detest the fact that I even stepped foot in this store) because I needed some glue. I browsed and found some really cool paper. Recollections has some neat new collections. I really liked their Mom's Diner collection and I thought their Salt paper from that collection would be perfect fora wintery themed card. I decided to pair that paper with a little polar bear I had cut out using my Joyful Expressions cartridge for my cricut. I also used my MS punch to create the little hills of snow.

I think it turned out pretty good. My husband said he likes this card the best out of all the ones I've made so far for the holidays. The one problem I'm having though is getting the sparkles to stick on the polar bear. I've tried a few different glues, my next thing is trying a spray on adhesive if I can find it anywhere. Excuse the horrible stamping job I did with the "peace" stamp. The card is just a prototype.

The second card was just a quick little try to see how things would work. It turned out alright. I'm not exceptionally thrilled with it. But it was quick to make. I am particpating in a card exchange that has about 20 people in it, so this might be the one I make for that exchange, just because it was super easy to do. I dont' want to spend hours agonizing over cards that a bunch of strangers are going to receive.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

2009-10-21T13:36:00.002-04:00

I can't believe that its not even Halloween yet and I'm busy thinking about Christmas cards. I figure I probably have about 50 to make, so mid as well start early. I wanted to go simple this year. After looking at a few of Emily's christmas cards over at Art From The Heart I thought I'm going to go super simple and do white cardstock. I also decided I was going to do solid colours (this of course might change if I found the right paper). The last requirement was to avoid the colour combos of Red and Green. I wanted to go with something different.

I initially tried out some cutesy cards with little polar bears and penguins and the like, but didn't really like how they looked. So I went out and I bought myself some new stamps from TPC Studios called Christmas Glamour. So far these are the two cards of come up with

Once again I apologize for the cruddy pictures and the even cruddier lighting in my house. The top one I made the snowflake with one of the ornament stamps. I stamped four major points using the entire stamp and the other four using the bottom half of the stamp. I also decided to go for a little big of a different colour for christmas and I used purple.

The bottom one if of course more traditional. I think it turned out really well. I like the simplicity of it. I like the red on white, and I like the sparkle that I used to frame out the ornament.

I have a few more cards that I'm going to try out making before I decide which one(s) I'm going to use as my cards this year.

Happy Anniversary

2009-10-12T13:01:00.005-04:00

If you remember my last post I said that I was giving up on the sketch challenges that dot the papercrafting blogosphere and I was going out on my own and was going to use the sketches in my book the Joy of Cardmaking. I'm on the road to fulfilling my plan.

I went through the book and decided to start off with this sketch (excuse my awesome computer generated sketch making abilities). This is sketch on pg 168 of the book, that they've called Mother in Pink (they made a mother's day card as their example).

I chose this sketch because I needed to make an 6th anniversary card for my husband. So I wanted something simple that I wasn't going to go crazy girly with, but something that allowed me a little leeway to be creative.

And here is the result....................

I think it turned out really well. I chose a red colour scheme because of the whole "love" theme I had going on with it being an Anniversary card. I also figured red was a pretty neutral colour in terms of being masculine/feminine. I had a hard time picking a stamp to use. I decided on a Verve stamp from a set that I'd had lying around for a while and that I'd never used. I'd purchased it with the intent to use it for Valentine's Day but it worked just as well for this occassion.

The little twirly curly metal piece that I used is actually a paper clip. I have had a box of these silly things sitting around in my craft cart for a long long time. Every previous time I'd tried to use them they just never looked right and then I saw a sample card using them in this way and thought, ah ha this is perfect. I think it looks really neat.

Anyway I'm happy with the card. My husband thought it was great, which is all that really matters.

Paper: Ivory, Ruby Jewel (Paper Company); Vintage Tee (Basic Grey)

Stamps: Hundred Hearts (Verve)

Ink: Cranberry (Colourbox)

Other: Mini Silver Brads (Making Memories); Paper Clip (Staples); Wrights Ribbon

A New Strategy

2009-10-08T14:44:00.002-04:00

I've been thinking about how to get myself motivated to actually enjoy my little card making hobby. I thought that doing sketches from places like Mojo Monday would help me, but I've found they've done the exact opposite. I've become overly critical of my cards because they just seem to be ho hum in comparison to some of the other cards that people post when they are particpating in the sketch challenges.

SO I pulled out a book that my husband had given me for Christmas last year. The Joy of Cardmaking. Its published by Paper Crafts. It has about 80 sketches in it. So I'm going to try to do a sketch a week (or maybe every second week - it really depends on whether or not my 3 year old decides she can have quite time). I'll post the sketch, and my card that I've made.

Maybe it will inspire someone else to be creative, maybe not. But I'm hoping it gets my creative juices flowing again.

Going to the Chapel........

2009-10-05T13:15:00.002-04:00

We are headed to another wedding this upcoming weekend. It will be kind of fun because this weekend is also my 6 wedding anniversary. My husband has been given explicit instructions that he must, upon penalty of death, ensure that they play our wedding song during the dance portion of the evening ;p

Anyway so a card is needed. I thought about making another card using my baroque motifs stamps, but I've been using those a lot lately. I decided I'd try a heart card. I usually find anything with hearts on it uber cheeseball, so I needed some good inspiration. I found a card similar to the one I decided to make on splitcoaststampers, and off I went.

The bride has chosen blue and brown as her wedding colours, so I decided once again I'd use her colour scheme to make the card. I started out using brown as the dominant colour but it just looked way too harsh, so I switched it up to blue. The heart stamp I used also looked a little plain jane-ish so I jazzed it up a little bit with sparkles, because heck what bride doesn't appreciate a little sparkle on her day. Finished it off with some brown ribbon and a big old brad. I thihnk it turned out pretty good.

Paper: Recollections cardstock ( I can't remember what exactly the colour is, and once I chuck the packaging that info is long gone)
Ink: Bashful Blue (SU)
Stamps: Bold Heart (Rubber Stampede), Baroque Motifs (SU)
Other: Celebrate It Basic Brown Ribbon, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine glitter, SU Circle Brad

Mojo 105

2009-09-25T15:10:00.004-04:00

I didn't think I was going to particpate in the Mojo sketch this week. I looked at in on Monday and thought its way too involved and I don't have time to figure things out. Changed my mind though.

I had initially thought I was going to do a great little card for a birthday with my new Pink Cat Studio Fairy Friends stamps. I had the whole thing laid out and decided I didn't want to use the little fairy frog stamp I had all set to go. So then it was a big change in plans. I decided to just do a blank card with my Inkadinkado Patterned Bug stamps. I have only really used the butterfly stamp in my set, but decided to go the dragonfly route because it just fit in the square on the card better.

I also decided to be lazy and use my self adhesive papers (well mostly - the whole card isn't that paper), and after cutting out circles with my little manual circle cutter for ages, it finally dawned on me that I do have a cricut (a rarely used one) and that it would do the job of cutting out circles quite nicely.

So here's the card I came up with. I think its alright. Nothing fantastic to write home about, but it'll do.

Paper: DCWV Posies Glitte Print

Stamps: Inkadinkado Patterned Bugs

Ink: SU Green Galore

Other: Martha Stewart Glitter Turquoise & Sterling; Ribbon: Dashes Dots & Checks & Sugar and Spice

Starting to wonder.....

2009-09-24T19:38:00.002-04:00

if I kind of suck at this card making thing. I've been doing it for a while and I dunno I feel like I've hit a plateau or something. I make some cards and think they are going to be fabulous, then they turn out not so fabulous. I participate in sketches and think I've made awesome cards - I made a what I thought was a great one for this week's mojo challenge - then I go and look at the other ones posted, and my card isn't that great (I haven't posted it yet because my battery in my camera is dead). I just think I don't really have a creative bone in the old body.

Mojo Week 104

2009-09-17T14:06:00.002-04:00

Couldn't come up with a title this week, so its just Mojo 104. I have a whole load of cards to make for upcoming events, but decided to do a birthday card this week. I have a friend whose birthday is next week. So I thought this is the perfect time to get it done.

I have really come to love my American Crafts Gidday paper. I don't have much of it, and I didn't really like it when I first got it, but now that I've made a few cards with it, I've decided its pretty versatile, and it makes for a great background for birthday invites. Its pretty festive and fun, and it has lots of great colours in it. Anyway not much explanation as to how things were done. Other than I couldn't figure out anything to put in the big circle, so I just went with overlaying a the main colours I decided to use to match the motif of the paper.

Paper: Bazill Basics Mudpie, American Crafts Gidday, Recollections Pink Cardstock

Ink: Colourbox Dragonfly, Martha Stewart Evergreen, Peony, Cornflower Meadow & Snapdragon

Stamps: Pink Cat Studios Sweet Treats, Inkadinkado Birthday Cupcakes

Other: Recollections Silver Circle Brads

Stamps, Stamps and More Stamps

2009-09-16T13:42:00.003-04:00

I cannot help myself. Its not like I need more stamps. I have at least a hundred of them. I just love the new these new Itty Bitty Halloween stamps and the Fairy Friend stamps from Pink Cat Studios. I had to have them. Who knows how much I will use them (i have never made a halloween card in my life) but they were just too cute to pass up. I can't wait until they arrive

Renovations

2009-09-13T13:42:00.001-04:00

I'm kind of bored with my boring blog template. I'm searching for a new one. So if things look a little weird for the next little while its because I'm just trying some things out.

Let them eat cake!

2009-09-12T13:16:00.004-04:00

This coming Saturday we are attending the wedding of one of my husband's MBA classmates. It should be a great time, a bit of a reunion of sorts for the husband. The invitation we got was a beautifully hand stamped and embossed Navy Blue and Silver. Just gorgeous. The bride and groom asked that they not be given presents but that they be given a donation to their favourite charity. So to go along with our donation I decided to make them a great invite (or at least what I think is great).

I decided to use their colour scheme and make their invite blue and silver. The cake was really easy to make. I just cut out rectangles of white card stock in graduated sizes for ther layers. I used the ribbon to hide the seams. I stamped each of the layers of cake with the edge of big Baroque Motifs SU stamp. I used the little silver beads to add a little something that I thought it needed. I decided to also add the ribbon to the outline of the entire card because I just didn't like the blue edges on their own. I did screw up a little on the one length of ribbon and the cut, but it was too minor for me to bother fixing it.

I'm really happy with the way this one turned out. I hope the bride and groom enjoy it.

Paper: Canson Indigo Blue, The Paper Company White Cardstock

Stamps: Stampin Up Baroque Motifs

Ink: Encore Ultimate Metallic Silver

Ribbon: Holiday Trim It Up

Stamping & Smiling: My first sketch

2009-09-08T16:45:00.002-04:00

This is my very first Stamps & Smiles sketch. I read the blog frequently but just never had the time to do one. Then I saw this and I thought OOOH I have the perfect card. I revived a card I made a month or two ago for this sketch. I love making this card and thought it was prefect for this sketch

So I tweaked my old design just a little bit. To add to the awesome butterflies I made using the Martha Stewart Butterfly punches, I add a little piece of green ribbon and a nice little flower with a sparkly stickle in the middle, because really what girl doesn't like a little sparkle. I also thought I would use a sentiment that was more than just a simple thank you. I think this card turned out really well.

Paper: Recollections White Card Stock, Provocrafts paper

Stamps: Just Like You (SU)

Ink: Garden Green (SU), Orchid (Colourbox)

Paper Everywhere

2009-09-07T14:37:00.002-04:00

I'm so very very excited. Last week a woman that I know through various people told me that she is a wholesaler for American Crafts. As soon as I heard my little heart started racing thinking of all the wonderfully wonderful awesomeness that is American Crafts paper. This awesome lady offered to order me some paper. I cannot wait until it comes in. It will be American Crafts paper overload. YIPEE!

Squares Everywhere - Mojo 100; Day 7

2009-08-23T16:05:00.003-04:00

When I looked at the Mojo sketch this morning, I thought "wow that's a lot of cutting and gluing" and I thought I'm not going to bother, but I changed my mind. I didn't follow the sketch exactly, I decided to make a square card, so with a square card, I needed to make the little squares the same number across as down. So my card isn't quite the sketch.

I think this turned out fairly well. I can't believe I did two mojo sketches two days in a row, but I can't believe I made two cards in a row that I'm happy with. I still suck at colouring, but I will get better with practice, and today was a crap day to take pictures with natural lighting. Its pretty gloomy outside.

Paper: Making Memories: Small Pink Dots, Brooke Paisley; The Paper Company: Peppermint

Stamps: Pink Cat Studios Enchanted Lily

Ink: Coloubox Black; Martha Stewart Markers: Peony, Glade, Snapdragon

Back in the Swing - Mojo Turns 100 Day 6

2009-08-22T11:31:00.002-04:00

We were away on holidays for a little while. Wait let me rephrase that. We took a trip. Travelling with two toddlers is not a holiday, its just a change in location. Anyway since we were away there was no time to play with all my crafty stuff. Now we have been home for a while, and well I need to get some cards made.

My sisters birthday is coming up in about two weeks. She is also a cardmaker (or was, she hasn't done it for a long time). She's the one who got me into the whole mess ;p. So when I make her cards, they better be good ones.

I missed most of the week for the Mojo sketches, but thought I would give this one a try.

I'm finally really proud of a mojo sketch that I completed. I love the card that I ended up with. I've been waiting for just the right occassion to use my awesome American Crafts paper. This seemed perfect. I love the way the card turned out. I like the colour combo that I used. I like the stamps that I selected, and I actually didn't do too bad a job on the stamping or the colouring (my colouring techniques leave a lot to be desired.

Here's the final product.

Stamps: Inkadinkado Birthday Cupcakes

Ink: Colourbox Black, Martha Stewart Markers: Cornflower Blue, Pomegranate, Peony

Paper: The Paper Co: White & Pink Cardstock; American Crafts Everyday G'Day; Bazzil Basics Mudpie

Ribbon: Offrey Brown

Glitter: Martha Stewart

A lot of effort, for a little payoff

2009-08-06T15:15:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago my Mom asked me to make birthday invitations for my Grandma's upcoming 90th birthday. I said sure. What a mistake. I hated every second of making these cards. I hated the colour choices that my Grandma gave me to work with. It was Pink, Blue and Lavender. I opted to skip the blue because it just didn't go.

Then I showed my Grandma a mock up of the card from one I had done earlier that was similar on my Blog. She then snooped around a bit and found a card she liked better. One that was far more complicated to make. I opted to ignore her because I just didn't have the time to make them. So I went for the simpler design. What I got was a big old "I thought you were making the other ones".

I was also supposed to get some help making them from my little sister. Never happened. She went to the East Coast for a wedding and an In Law visit, so I had no help. Well unless you count my husband. He tried. He helped a little, but trying to show him how to use the SU scallop punch was a lot more difficult then you think it would be for an engineer.

None the less, the invites are done.

I don't think I'll ever be happy (Mojo 98)

2009-08-06T10:29:00.003-04:00

I have the hardest time doing Mojo Monday sketches. I don't know what it is. I look at them and think, oooh this one is going to be great, I have the perfect idea. And that perfect idea just never really works out. We are going to a birthday party on Sunday for one of my daughter's little friends. I recently purchased the Enchanted Lily fairy stamps from Pink Cat Studios, so I thought Woo hoo a chance to use them, what little girl doesn't love fairies. I found the perfect paper, the perfect everything. Only problem, my card didn't turn out so perfect. The one aspect I do like, the bow. I tied a decent bow ;p

Fluttering By

2009-08-05T13:38:00.002-04:00

I have been wanting to make this card for ages. Everytime I go to the store I look at Martha Stewart Punches, specifically the butterfly punches and I think "I need to get those". I finally caved and bought them. I had a 50% off coupon so I figured why not. I'm so happy with this card. I love it.

Ink: Dark Peony (Colourbox), Everygreen (Martha Stewart)

Stamps: Just Like You & Short & Sweet (SU)

Other: Martha Stewart Butterfly punches

Mojo 97

2009-07-27T15:19:00.005-04:00

Its another double your pleasure, double my posts kind of day :) I haven't done a mojo sketch for a while. Decided to neglect my kids for a while today (not really they were napping) and do a sketch.

I started out thinking I was going to do a birthday card for an upcoming 3 year olds birthday party that my kidlet is attending, but then couldn't find the right paper combo to go with the stamp that I wanted to use. So I decided to just do a random blank card that could be used for any occasion. I bought some verve stamps a while ago and haven't had the chance to use them so I decided to try to find one today that would fit the bill. I really liked the saying from the Beautiful You set. I also have a million butterfly stamps that I rarely use. I have no idea where the butterfly that I used came from, but I have a feeling its from an Inkadinkado (I was right, I just looked it up) set that I bought many moons ago. I also decided that some sparkle was good, so I put little dots of silver sparkle on the butterfly (you can't really see it in the picture)

Anyway, without further ado, here's my card.

Paper: I have no idea, its random scraps. I've been in a use up all my scraps kind of mood lately (see the last two posts in my blog :) )

Ink: Lavendar Lace (SU), Dragonfly Black (colourbox)

Stamps: Patterned Bugs (Inkadinkado), Beautiful You (Verve)

Pink Is the Word

2009-07-27T13:07:00.002-04:00

I'm attending a bridal shower in a week. A "Pink" shower. Everyone has been asked to wear pink, and I'm assuming all the decorations will be pink (however its odd since the colours for the wedding are not anywhere close to pink). So I tried my best to make a "Pink" card.

I have seen this card made a gazillion times over and thought it was cute, and I finally had the occassion to make it, so I did. I just used some scraps of paper that I had left over from other projects (that seems to be my thing right now, using scraps of paper). I think it turned out quite nicely. I like the way the dress turned out and I finally managed to tie a decent bow :)

No stamps or ink on this baby :)

Up Up And Away........

2009-07-24T16:15:00.003-04:00

We are attending the first birthday party of a friend's son on Saturday. I had totally forgotten about it until about an hour ago and needed to come up with a quick card. I wanted to make something fun, but not too busy, and not too involved in terms of paper/layers that sort of thing. So I turned to splitcoaststampers.com for an idea. I have no orignality in me, so this is something I saw on there. For the life of me I can't find it again so I can't give the originator any props, I wish I could.

So here it is, a little monkey being carried away by balloons. I decided to cut out a little window in the card to place a balloon with a number one. On the inside it says "You're 1". Everything used was pretty much just random scraps of cardstock that I have had left over from other projects. I had originally stamped the monkey and cut it out so that it would stand out, but decided it would look better if I just stamped him directly on the cardstock itself. I think it turned out alright.

Here Comes the Sun

2009-07-18T19:49:00.003-04:00

Just writing the title of this post did weird things to me. I associated the Beatles song with the birth of my first daughter. Made me all weepy and sentimental. I'm a fool.

On with what I am here to do, talk about cards :)

I mentioned in a previous post about a card exchange. I needed to make two sets of cards. I did the first set. For the second I decided I wanted something with a little more whimsy. I wanted to use my Just Beachy SU stamp set, because I haven't had the chance to use it yet, even though I've had it for a couple of months.

I had a hard time finding paper that I thought would be "Beachy" or "Sunny". This was the first card that I made. I thought the Orange and Pink paisley and stripes looked great together. What I didn't like was the orange cardstock I used, nor did I like the orange ribbon. So back to the drawing board.

Second attempt was much better. I like the blue, yellow's and greens together. I think it screams happy summer sunny fun. I like the way the blue polka dotted paper sort of makes a nice blue sky backdrop for the sun, and the stripped paper reminds me of beach towels. So this is the design I'm going with for my second card for my exchange.

Stamps: Just Beachy (SU)

Paper: Playful Blues (Martha Stewart)

Ink: Apricot Appeal, Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Close to Cocoa (SU)

Ribbon: Dashes, Dots & Checks

Need Ideas for a 90th Birthday

2009-07-17T12:13:00.004-04:00

I have been charged with making invitations for my Grandma's 90th brithday party. I have to come up with a simple design because I need to make about 60 of them, and I don't have a tonne of time. The other problem, my grandma has picked out colours that do not match at all. I'm the queen of monotone cards. I love it when colours on cards are from one colour family. What the heck am I supposed to do with Lavender, Pink and Indigo GAH!

Any suggestions for stamp sets to use? Cricut Cartridges (I have a cricut but its totally neglected I hardly use it - this would be the perfect time to pull it out)?

I also need suggestions for what to put on the inside of the card other than the deets regarding date and place.

Any help would be much appreciated

Signed,

The girl who really has no creative bones in her body :)

A Card for Every Occassion

2009-07-14T08:28:00.006-04:00

I decided on a card exchange card design. Well one anyway. The organizers have decided that we are going to make two sets of cards, so now I have to come up with another one.

Anyway, here it is:

I think its simple and elegant and can be used for pretty much any occassion. Heck I think you could use it for Christmas if it really came down to it.

I think the other design I need to do should be a little bit more whimsical. I want to use my SU Just Beachy stamp set, but I can't come up with anything good.

ETA: I just got the best comment ever. The three year old sees the card and says "Oh wow Mom I really like that card you made. I really love the big red flower you put on there" :)

Paper: Anna Griffin (no colour listed on the paper, its the red stuff)

Ink: Cranberry (Colourbox), Black (StazOn)

Stamps: Baroque Motifs (SU)

Well Holy Cow - Two posts in one day

2009-07-10T15:08:00.003-04:00

Today quiet time has actually been quiet. So I found myself with about two hours of free time. YAHOO!

I'm part of a card exchange that a group of ladies from a message board community that I've been a part of for about five years, are doing. There are 9 particpants. So what you have to do is create 8 cards. You send them off to the organizer, then when she has received everyone's cards, she packages up one of each and sends them back to you. So each person particpating gets back in return 8 unique cards.

So I'm trying out a few things to see what I want to do for the exchange. Its a blank card exchange. So we can't put any sentiments on it at all. So this is sample number one. I like this card. I like the colours. I like that its simple. I think it could be used for a number of occassions, and I think that if someone wanted to, they could easily add or stamp their own sentiment on the front

Paper: Anna Griffen
Stamp: Baroque Motifs (SU)
Ink: Pretty In Pink (SU)

Back At It (Mojo 94)

2009-07-10T10:11:00.007-04:00

So after a long hiatius from cardmaking I'm back, and I've clearly lost all skill when it comes to making cards. Here's my attempt at Mojo Monday 94

I decided to use my new Pink Cat Studios Sweet Treats stamps. I thought I would do a good job. I picked out lovely co-ordinated paper that I thought screamed Soda Fountain/Ice Cream store. I had some awesome ribbon that I had been waiting to use for a year or so but never found the occassion. Then I actually got to work on the stamping and colouring. Yeah I suck. Well my black ink sucks that's for sure. Its the one colour I think I haven't bought in the last two weeks, and well I should have. It started bleeding like mad the second I put the crystal effects on the Sundae glass. I also only have cruddy Martha Stewart markers to colour with. So not the best stamped images for a card. Colouring and cutting out stamped images is also difficult when you have a 3 year old tugging at your arm, bumping into you, demanding everything under the sun, you know typical 3 year old stuff. Someday I will find the time to make a card without the kiddies around. It might actually turn out good.

Anyway here it is.

Paper: The Paper Co: Peppermint & Tinted Dawn

Making Memories: Pink Splatter, Pink Small Dots, Raspberry Small Dots

Stamps: Pink Cat Studios: Sweet Treats

Ribbon: Fruit Punch

(ETA: GAH why is blogger sucking so much. It won't let me change font sizes, and it won't let me post the mojo sketch)

More Stuff

2009-07-02T14:33:00.002-04:00

I can't stop. Just ordered some more stamp sets. This should be it for a while. Good thing the husband doesn't get the mail, otherwise I would probably have some splaning to do.

I ordered three sets from Verve: Forever in our hearts, Hundred Hearts and Beautiful You, and one little stamp, their whimsy tree.

Now I just have to find time to actually sit down and make some cards.

I also need to buy markers. I gotta wait at least a month though. I've clearly spent way too much already.

Some new junk for my craft trunk

2009-06-28T15:06:00.004-04:00

Bit the bullet and bought some new stuff today. Thanks to Chelle I bought the entire colour line from SU of their inks, but not the full pads, just the ink spots. I'm looking forward to trying out all the new colours that I'm going to have to play with. I haven't really used too many SU inks, but hopefully they will serve their purpose and work out well for me.

I also bought some new stamp sets from Pink Cat Studios. I bought Sweet Treats, because Emily made a card with one of the stamps a while ago and I liked the way it looked, and I bought the Fairies set as well. I have no idea what I'm going to use to actually colour these stamps, because I can't decide if I want to go the route of copics or not, but for now I guess I'll just use my water colour pencils.

I also bought the Birthday Cupcake set of stamps from Inkadinkado. I'm not sold on the whole clear stamps/acrylic block thing yet, but I'm willing to give it a try. I've got a couple of older sets of the clear stamps that I don't use often, but we'll so how it goes with these ones.

I'm still looking for a good all around sentiments set. I have found in the last little while that I've needed to make a few "with sympathy" type cards, but I don't have any sentiments for that. I can find sets that offer loads of stamps for that "occassion", but I want something that also has other sentiments for other occassions, like a few thank you's, best wishes that sort of thing.

I'll be back

2009-06-24T12:40:00.002-04:00

Someday soon. I have had zero time to make any cards, but I have signed myself up to do a card exchange, so I'm going to have to sit down and find the time to make at least 10 cards in the next little while.

I'm itching to buy some new stuff too. I need to replace pretty much all of my inks. I desperately want some copics (but I don't know if its in the budget right now), and I'm trying to find some fun new stamps that I will use more often then not, but I haven't really found anything that has jumped out yet.

So if you're reading, what inks do you like (brand and/or colours)?, Any stamp sets I should look at?

ETA: I really like some pink cat studio stamps, but do tell, how do you mount them and on what?

No Time

2009-05-26T14:48:00.002-04:00

I'm trying my darndest to find time to make cards. Its not happening though. I managed to make 1/2 a card last week for Mojo Monday. I shall attempt to finish it and do a new one for this week sometime. I'm currently int he middle of Princess Birthday Party hell. My daughter's birthday party is on Sunday. I foolishly told everyone who was attending that I would make princess dresses for the girls and knight costumes for the boys. So I've been sewing like a madwoman the last two weeks to get these done, which leaves little time for cards. Doesn't help that the husband hasn't been around to help with bedtimes either the last two weeks, as he's busy with work.

I need about 27 hours a day.

Procrastination (Mojo 86)

2009-05-15T08:43:00.003-04:00

I have a serious problem with procrastination. I have had it my entire life. I try my best to do things in such ways so that I don't procrastinate, but the nasty habit always manages to creep back into my life. And of course there is always the excuses that come along. My excuse right now is I'm tired. Whenever I get a few moments to myself all I feel like doing is sitting. My kids are crazy right now, and they just suck the energy right out of me.

When I started this blog I promised myself I would post at least once a week by doing the mojo sketch, and I knew that if I was going to keep up with the once a week promise I'd have to be on top of the mojo sketch at the beginning of the week. This week, I procrastinated. I almost decided to just forget about it. Thank goodness I also have a strong guilt reflex and I felt guilty about not keeping up with my own self inflicted promise. So yesterday even though I felt like not doing anything other than staring at the grass growing (and yes we just put down a load of seed and laid new sod so I can in fact watch new grass grow if I felt like it) I dragged myself to the basement to make my card.

I'm fairly happy with it. I could not for the life of me get the ink that I chose to use to give me decent coverage on the stamps that I chose to use, but meh whatever. It gives it the antique look (ha, that's what I'm telling myself anyway.

I tried something different with my picture takign since the lighting in my house is horrible. Someday I will take a better picture (how's that for procrastination)

Stamps: Just Like You (SU)

Ink: Cranberry (Colourbox)

Paper: Play (Fancy Pants Designs); Indigo (Canson); some random cheap yellow paper from michaels

Issues (Mojo #85)

2009-05-06T13:40:00.003-04:00

I am apparently having issues orienting cards. I did this one upside down (that's why the picture looks a little wonky) Oops!

Its my Mom's birthday today so I thought I'd make her a birthday card even though I already have a million other birthday cards lying around. I figured I'd try something different with my paper selections. I like things to be very matchy matchy. So even though this card ended up being pretty matchyin terms of colours, I went outside of my comfort zone in terms of matching patterns. Everything is different.

STAMPS: Wagon Full of Fun (SU), Birthday Wish (SU). INK: Warm Red (Colourbox) PAPER: Maddi Norr Stipe, Maddi Pasley (Making Memories); Petite Sunrise Posies (DCWV)

April Showers Bring May Flowers

2009-05-05T16:01:00.002-04:00

I was at the library on the weekend and saw these in Parents magazine, so I decided it would be a fun little craft for kid #1 and I to do for my Mom's birthday this weekend (and well it also can double as a Mother's Day gift I suppose)

I think they worked out pretty good. I just used up some scrap pieces of paper that I had lying around, some buttons and pipe cleaners

Mom Mojo Part II (Mojo Monday #84)

2009-04-28T10:15:00.003-04:00

Since I have two Moms to make mother's day cards for I figured I'd use this weeks sketch to make a second card for my Mother In Law

I'm not happy with this at all. I messed it up. I like the colours, but I didn't have ribbon that matched so I had to improvise, I had a kid bugging the crap out of me while I attempted to make it and once I was finished I realized that I actually made the card backwards and because of the paper and adhesive I foolishly used I couldn't take it apart and reverse it so the card opened the right way. Oh well, such is life.

Paper: Woodland Classic (Martha Stewart), Indigo (Canson), Some random self adhesive paper
Stamps & Ink: Bitty Basics (SU), Seaglass (Colourbox)

Mom Mojo (#83)

2009-04-23T15:39:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty sick of pink and girly since I've been working on the #1 kids birthday invites. So I decided to do something that had zero pink elements or really too many girly elements as well. I couldn't get away from girly entirely because well I made a mother's day card, so its got one little flower

Paper: Indigo Blue (Canson), Woodland Classic (Martha Stewart) and some random self adhesive paper

Cricut Beyond Basics Cartridge

Filigree Brads (SU)

Princess Party Invites

2009-04-21T15:04:00.003-04:00

My daughter is turning 3 in a little while and we've decided to do the whole kiddie brithday party thing this year. She's in a bit of a Princess OCD phase in her life, so of course we are doing a Princess themed party. She helped me pick out all the paper for her invitation. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Paper: Tinted Dawn & Peppermint (The Paper Company); Tinted Medallions & Light Wallpaper (GCD Studios)

Stamps: Perfect Princess (SU)

Ink: Dark Peony (Colourbox)

Other Stuff: Recollections Rhinestone Stickers

Cupcake Camp

2009-04-19T17:46:00.002-04:00

So nothing to do with paper, stamping or ink.

I attended a cupcake camp on Sunday. A friend of mine hosted this little shindig. It was loads of fun. The premise is everyone invited makes some kind of tasty little cupcake. You bring enough so that everyone can sample a small little morsel at the party and then everyone that has attended gets to take one (or more) of each of the cupcakes home.

It was loads of fun, I had a great time, and man I tasted some really good cupcakes

Its a New Week - Mojo #82

2009-04-14T14:06:00.004-04:00

When I saw this weeks sketch I thought awesome its a pretty simple sketch with no a lot going on, it should be easy to get this one done. Not so. I actually had a harder time coming up with something for this weeks sketch, more so than last weeks which was crazily busy.

Anyway here's the outcome. I used an SU stamp set that I rarely find a use for. The only thing I'm not really happy with is the sentiment. I have a whole load of stamps on order that have sentiments, and I was hoping they'd be here today and wouldn't you know it about 30 seconds after I finish the card, the UPS guys shows up with my new stamps. Oh well

Paper: Play (Fancy Pants Designs)

Stamps: In the Stars (SU), Big Bold Birthday (SU)

Ink: Marigold & Orange (Colourbox)

Other Stuff: Circle Brad (SU), Ribbon; Yellow (Textured Trio)

More Mojo - #81

2009-04-06T14:34:00.002-04:00

When I first saw this sketch this morning I thought wow there is no way I'm going to be able to make a decent card out of this. I thought it was really busy and wasn't sure what I was going to do.

Anyway I decided to go green, since its spring and its snowing out. I thought a little green would be a good thing. Here's my creation for this week

Spring Hello

2009-04-02T09:48:00.003-04:00

I frequent a women's message board that I've been a part of for quite a few years. To get over the winter blahs we are doing a little card exchange. You know so you get something else in the mail besides bills. I saw a card in my Paper Crafts magazine from a few months ago that I loved, and decided to make a reasonable facsimile for the card exchange. I thought it was just a fun little spring time hello type card. I'm fairly pleased with the way it turned out

I just used some odds and ends or card stock that I had lying around and a random butterfly stamp that came from some random bug collection that I no longer have any clue where it came from or who was the manufacturer.

Mojo 80: What happens when your 2 1/2 year old won't nap

2009-03-30T15:11:00.004-04:00

Every afternoon P is supposed to have quiet time/nap time. D has her little afternoon nap at the same time so this is the two hours that I should be getting to myself. A lot of the time I come down into the dungeon (aka the basement) and work away at crafty things.

Today however P decided that quiet time was clearly for babies. This meant my ability to focus was limited. It also meant that after I'd figured out my layout and had everything ready to go, I foolishly put everything together and then decided to stamp my sentiment. Mistake. Because I screwed up the stamp. Its neither straight nor clean, and by the time I'd done it there was no going back. So its not too sharp. But I blame the kid ;P

So here's the sketch

Here's my card

Stamps: Baroque Motif (SU)

Ink: Cranberry (Colourbox)

Paper: Woodland Classic (Martha Stewart)

This one gave me lots o' trouble

2009-03-24T18:43:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure why but this weeks Mojo Monday Sketch #79 gave me a heap of trouble.

I could not decide on a paper that I liked. I couldn't decide on which stamps I wanted to use. I couldn't make a choice on the colour that I wanted, what sentiment to include on the card. It was all about indecision this time around. Then add on the ridiculousness that became the scalloped edging. Holy crow, I must have punched out 20 of those edges and just couldn't get it right so I finally relented and used a handy dandy little cutting tool my sister gave me last year for Christmas.

So here's the outcome:

Stamps: Polka Dots & Petals, Sincere Salutations (SU)

Ink: Ice Blue, French Blue, Ice Jade, Wisteria (Colourbox)

Paper: Some random Martha Stewart paper I think it may be called Picnic

Ribbon: Dashes Dots & Checks

Sweet Treat

2009-03-22T14:34:00.003-04:00

This has nothing to do with cards, paper, stamps or ink, and everything to do with eggs, flour, sugar and food colouring.

Today was my youngest daughters 1st birthday. So of course we have to have the big do to birthday cake. I had these grand plans to make this awesomely awesome birthday cake with all kinds of safari animals on it, and in the end I ended up with a decent cake with one very odd looking giraffe.

I had seen instructions a while ago posted on a message board that I frequent on how to make a rainbow cake, so that's what I decided to do. It took two tries because apparently I cannot read instructions. The first time I made the cake batter, coloured it and had it already to go to pour into the pan and could not figure out for the life of me why in the world it was so thick. I tried to pour it, and it was like glue. So the husband says, "maybe you need a little more water". What water? I forgot to add any water to it so that batch got chucked. I read the instructions when I mixed it up the second time so the batter worked much much better.

My decorating artistic flared lacked a little bit on this one. I was in a bit of rush and had a two year old and the 1 year old tugging on my leg. So there were no straight lines, wrong tips used for the piping bag and well one very odd looking, oddly coloured giraffe was what resulted (gosh I can see this ending up on Cake Wrecks).

The cake turned out pretty cool on the inside (sorry for the lack of decent photo - apparently my whole family sucks at taking pictures; its not just me with cards)

Apparently both of my children weren't available the day when babies are taught that they must mush cake and get it all over themselves and love it, because neither of my kids have done that on their first birthdays. They are both dainty little things apparently who do not appreciate the fine things in life like buttercream icing.

Almost a week to get the creative juices flowing

2009-03-19T15:13:00.004-04:00

I've made a little pact with myself that I'm going to try to do the Mojo Monday sketch every week. It gets the old creative juices flowing and gives me an excuse to hide out in the basement away from my crazy kiddies for an hour or two a week.

I really liked doing this weeks sketch

Here's what I came up with

Stamps: Just Like You (SU), Thanks (Kolette Hall)

Ink: Colour Box; Ice Jade, Black, Sea Grass & Warm Red

Paper: Coney Island (American Crafts)

My First Ever: Mojo Monday #77

2009-03-11T16:08:00.004-04:00

So I'm too big of a chicken to actually enter these in Mojo Monday's sketch challenge but I haven't made cards for a couple of weeks and thought it was a great sketch so I'd try my hands at it.

So here's the sketch

And here's what I came up with.

I'm not really happy with this one. Its alright, but it wasn't really what I wanted to do. I was having a hard time finding co-ordinating paper in my rather large stashes of paper.

I'm much more happy with this birthday card. I really like the colours and the simplicity.

As with most paper related things that I make I have no idea what paper I used. I have to remember to write this stuff down, or make a note of it before I'm done the cards.

I also realize I still am awful at taking pictures. I need to switch my camera lens to my macro so I can take a decent close up.

The Best Invention Ever

2009-02-27T14:07:00.002-05:00

Last year I recieved a Cricut for my birthday. I got sucked in by the late night informercials and thought this is the machine for me. Once I saw it I couldnt' shut up about it and my parents actually heard me and they purchased it for me.

Of course once I got it home I started playing with it and realized that I didn't really need it. It was fun, but how much was I really going to use it. I also thought it would be great for scrapbooking, only problem there is that I don't really scrapbook. Actually I've never scrapbooked. I have all the intentions in the world to, but have never gotten around to it.

I used it when I first got it here and there for cards, but I found it really difficult to acutally use any of the letters or wording that I would cut out because it was just too darn hard to adhere it to the cards I was making. I'm not exactly on the up and up as to what kind of adhesives I should be using for stuff like this so I tried a few things and it just seemed a little messy and goopy and didn't really work.

Then at Christmas my sister bought me the best stuff ever. She has a bit of a QVC addiction problem. She lives in the US and doesn't really have much to do other than watch her husband play hockey, so she watches a lot of QVC. One night they were selling paper. Sounds boring right. Not so much. It was self adhesive paper. She thought I might be able to use it for cardmaking, and man was she right.

I have no idea if this stuff is actually decent paper. But I have a gigantic pile of it. Its works awesomely in the cricut. I have never seen it sold in any stores in the GTA, so I must use it sparingly.

Now that I've written that all out, it seems like a bit of a let down. Yep the best invention is self adhesive paper ;p

Butterfly Award!

2009-02-24T15:18:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Jes and Jodi for the nomination. You are great friends :) Thanks for reading my little start up blog.

The rules once you've been nominated are

1) Post the award’s logo on your blog

2) Add the link to the person who nominated you

3) Nominate at least 6 others & post their links

I'm clearly not the coolest blog, or even close to the coolest blog because I cannot for the life of me figure out how to code my blog so that I can post a link to other blogs or back to your blogs.

Once I actually figure out how to do things I will indeed be back to follow the rules of the award and nominate six other people for the award. Until then I am in fact the biggest loser blogger ;P

Be Mine

2009-02-13T13:32:00.003-05:00

This morning we (Kid #1 & I) spent the morning making Valentine's for the husband and Kid #1 & Kid #2. Its funny to see #1's creative side come through and how happy she was with her little card that she made for her Dad. She kept saying over and over again "He's gonna love it"

I wish that I felt as confident in my creativeness as a two year old. I so don't. I realized once we started that I have very little in the way of "Valentine" supplies. I have two stamps and only a handful of paper & ribbon that isn't super girly. So I made do with what I had on hand. I'm actually really pleased with the card I made for my husband. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Its hard to see it through the vellum, but the vellum was what made it decent. If it wasn't for the vellum, quite frankly the card would suck.

The card I made for #1 I thought was cute and girly. She'll love it just because it is pink and has ribbon on it. #2's card remains unfinished at this moment, but will get done in time for the big day tomorrow. Although she won't have a clue what day it is, so really I could make it next week and it would still be alright. I just need something for her scrapbook (ha what scrapbook - we'll see if it ever gets done)

(someday I will find someplace in my house that has decent lighting so I can take halfway decent pictures)

Not quite right

2009-02-11T12:52:00.003-05:00

I'm in the process of making kid #2's first birthday invitations. I've done a few mock ups and nothing seems right. I've got my cute little jungly themed stamps, I have some awesome ribbon, I've got the plan for the card, but I can't get the colours to go. I can't decide on the colour of the card itself, and anything else. I'm trying to match it to the ribbon, which has a lovely light orange, green and a darker orange. I've tried Yellows, Oranges, Reds, Greens, Blues and nothing seems to go. I may have to hunt for some new ribbon.

ETA: Here are all the elements I've got and the little mock up that I've done (excuse the crap colouring job and any other parts that look rough, it is just a mock up afterall :))

I'm also horrible at coming up with a little verse to put on the inside of the card. The only one I can come up with is unbelievably similar to the card I did for Kid #1's birthday two years ago. I can use it, but I wanted something a little more unique. So if anyone can come up with something that rhymes with One other than Fun, and incoroporates Lions, Giraffes, Monkey's and Elephants I'm all ears :)

So many birthdays

2009-02-06T13:33:00.005-05:00

In my family there are only three months that there are no birthdays, April, November & December. One we get past December its full on Birthday mode for a couple of months. This month alone there are four. Which means its card making time for me. I'm having a hard time coming up with some designs for cards, because I can't find any new birthday stamps that I love. I've had Stampin Up's Big Bold Birthday for what seems like forever, and have used it for pretty much every birthday card I've made in the last couple of years. I think the fam is getting sick of seeing these stamps. None the less until I find a new stamp(s) that I like, Big Bold Birthday it is.

This is a card I made for my nephew's 8th birthday that we just celebrated in Hawaii, except silly me I forgot to take it with me. So its still at home waiting to be mailed to the little guy.

I haven't ever really kept track of the type/colour of ink, the paper or ribbon that I've used on my cards, so I have no idea what I used for this one other than the stamp set, but I will in the future try to keep track so that I can post what I've used. I shall also try to take much better pictures than this crappy one. I have bad lighting in my house ;p

My entry into the world of craft blogging

2009-02-05T13:36:00.002-05:00

I read so many different blogs about card making and paper crafting that I figured it was time for me to enter the world of craft blogging.

I haven't been making cards for a very long time. My first adventure in card making was 2 1/2 years ago when my first daughter was born. My older sister invited me over to make thank you cards for baby shower gifts. I thought the cards I made were fantastic. I have a few of them hanging around still, but they are by no means fantastic. They are cute simple little cards that I guess were a good go for a first timer.

That little foray got me hooked. I have been on a stamp/ink/paper buying extravaganza ever since. It has become an obsession.

I don't have a lot of time to enjoy my hobby because of the two little girls and the one big kid I share my life with, but I try my best. I'm also not the most creative or the most skilled card maker going, but again I try my best and hope that maybe I can inspire someone elses creativity, or brighten someones day by sharing my craftiness with them.